“When you read a novel, you are immersing yourself in what it’s like to be inside another person’s head. You are simulating a social situation. You are imagining other people and their experiences in a deep and complex way. So maybe, he said, if you read a lot of novels, you will become better at actually understanding other people off the page. Perhaps fiction is a kind of empathy gym, boosting your ability to empathize with other people—which is one of the most rich and precious forms of focus we have. Together, they decided to begin to study this question scientifically.”
― Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again
― Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again
“When a self-driven car makes a mistake, all the other cars learn from this mistake and never make it again. Different humans, on the other hand, always repeat the same mistake. You don’t learn from one another.”
― Qualityland: Visit Tomorrow, Today!
― Qualityland: Visit Tomorrow, Today!
“The more novels you read, the better you were at reading other people’s emotions. It was a huge effect. This wasn’t just a sign that you were better educated—because reading nonfiction books, by contrast, had no effect on your empathy.”
― Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again
― Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again
Ethan’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Ethan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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